Janice Nigro

Name: Janice Nigro

From: Ithaca NY
Family: Husband – Jan; Son – Anthony; and our cats Hobbies: Enjoying Ithaca’s gorges and waterfalls, fossils
Quote to Live By: “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I nominate Janice Nigro, the Co Founder and Director of Vitamin L, the nationally recognized young people's chorus based in Ithaca. For the past 22 years, Janice has poured her heart and soul into this project and through her tremendous hard work and resourcefulness has kept it going, even through hard times. The Vitamin L chorus, which recently received a letter of appreciation from President Obama for it's work, promotes positive values for young people through song and performances. Though she is happy to be behind the scenes and never asks for any recognition, she is the guiding force of this important project and an unsung hero to those who know her. It's time that she gets some much deserved recognition.

Nominated by Jan Nigro

Bio:

Janice Nigro is the co-founder and full time Director of The Vitamin L Project, an organization that is dedicated to encouraging positive character development in young people through music. She is passionate about working with Vitamin L’s eighty youth chorus members and offering Vitamin L’s messages of love, peace, compassion and tolerance to young audiences in an average of 50 concerts per year, around Central New York and beyond.

Janice was strongly influenced by the teachings and the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. since first meeting him when she was five. She grew up in an activist household in Atlanta, Georgia in the midst of the civil rights movement, and she was inspired by the example her parents set. It was natural for her to want to work for the good of humanity and to work to encourage awareness of the world as one family.

Later, her personal studies of various spiritual approaches to life strengthened her determination and decision to do her best to be of service in this world. She has always loved music, theater, and a variety of musical styles. Her 22 years of work with Vitamin L combines her love of music and working with youth with her personal philosophy of being proactive about positive social change.

One of the many aspects of her work that she loves is getting to work with Vitamin L’s eighty chorus members over a span of several years and witness them grow and blossom as performers and as individuals. She is very grateful to be able to do work she believes in, and she is grateful for her family’s support and love.